Everyone on the street had their little specialty to cook up for the street party. We had a big mix of cuisines, and everything from savory dumplings from Hana and Mira, Mexican street corn from Alexa, burgers and hot dogs from my uncles, and my chicken satay, and everyone just chowed down. Elise and Talia had a bunch of patriotic cupcakes, and Alexa had churros for dessert, and it was just a never ending feast. Frida and Bella, once they'd been kind enough to deliver food to everyone doing the cooking, were lighting sparklers, and having a blast.

As the new kids on the block, literally, the girls and I got a lot of people stopping by. Not just from our street, but also from people on neighboring streets who were joining the festivities. It was the most fun I'd had, outside of being in bed with my girls, in years.

I'd been spending a lot of time with all our new neighbors. Talia obviously because she'd done so much work on the house, and Elise because I'd been talking to her about having Bella take classes online in the fall since she was a teacher. Hana had obviously been teaching me some cooking along with Alexa, and then Mira because she'd killed someone. No, don't take that the wrong way! It wasn't like they knew what I'd done in the past, but of everyone here in the neighborhood, she was the only one who had taken a life before. Back when she was escaping Venezuela with Hana, she'd used a machete on a man, and I felt a little bit a kindship with her, not that I spoke of it. When I read the book that she and Hana had written, I was more impressed with the mild mannered women than I had been with anyone in a while. Not for the killing, but for everything else they'd been through together. Their bond seemed unshakable, having trusted each other with their lives through that time.

Honestly, all four of them were amazing people. The fact that they were all hot lesbians made it even more fun to live on our street. But the person I felt best for was Bella. I think that of all of us, Mira was the only one of us who had the support of her family when she came out. Bella now had 7 lesbians and a pair of gay men to look to as good role models in solid relationships. That was something that any of us would have been thrilled to have as a kid. I really hoped it would help her in the future when it came to finding someone and building a stable relationship of her own. Everyone made it clear that she could go to them if she ever needed to talk.

"We hit the jackpot here," Willow said as Bella raced up and down the darkened street with Frida. "I didn't know neighborhoods like this existed."

I shook my head softly. "I don't think they do in most places. But there is no way I'm going to ever want to move. I hope none of the others do either. This is too special."

"I guess that a job or something might make them leave, but I hope not. Hana and Mira travel a lot, but Elise and Talia have local jobs like us," Lexie pointed out.

"We'll enjoy them as long as we can. Long enough to watch all our kids grow old together," Willow said while pulling the three of us into a hug. That was one other things about the other women on the street. None of them seemed freaked out about our relationship at all, almost as if they had been exposed to another poly relationship, and accepted it. Had they? Either way, I was okay with that!

"Well, as soon as we have kids!" I agreed. "Theirs are all still young, so they'll be within a few years of each other."

I saw Willow and Lexie share a look, and then they both pulled out little plastic sticks from their back pockets. "Ours should be here in about 9 months." Lexie whispered.

"Congratulations mommy!" Willow added.

"Holy shit! Is this really happening?" I asked, just as the first of the fireworks burst over the harbor.

"It's early." Willow leaned in, kissing me softly. "But it's real. We wouldn't want to announce it yet, but we have some little peanuts growing."

"I guess we don't have to keep trying to make them then, huh?" I joked.

"Don't you dare deprive us!" Lexie said, cupping me through my jeans. "You know what pregnancy can do to a woman's hormones. You're going to have 2 very horny wives soon!"

"I mean, I guess we could just take care of each other every night, if the challenge is too much for you." Willow slid past me, bringing Lexie into a heated kiss that had them both moaning. Hands started to wander as the fireworks overhead continued to burst.

"Okay, okay! You've made your point! I will happily fulfill every one of your needs!" I couldn't help but laugh before leaning down to plant soft kisses along their necks while they continued their makeout session. I squeezed them tight, not wanting to let go.

"Just make sure you fill our holes too!" Willow said as they broke the kiss for a moment. "We're going to need a lot of that!"

"I still can't believe you're having my babies." I had a sudden, irrational fear that something was going to go wrong, that someone was going to steal them away from them and had to let go of them, sinking to my knees as my breathing became ragged. There was a tightness in my chest, that was overwhelming, and both Willow and Lexie were on their knees with me as they held me tight. I couldn't help but burst into tears at the gesture and crushed them to me in another hug. I knew my fear was just memories and reminders of what I'd lost before, but everything had been going so well lately that I couldn't help but to be paranoid. "I can't lose you two and our little ones. I couldn't bear it."

"You won't Jesse, we're here for good." Lexie's breath was hot on my ear as she whispered.

"We're safe now," assured Willow into the other ear. I could feel their tears on my skin as we all cried together. "Nobody is left to hurt us, you protected us from everyone."

I nodded between them, not trusting myself to speak, but I knew she was right. The news about the club hadn't stopped with arrests of people from the information in the security system, and then at least a half dozen politicians resigned as well, though they should have been arrested instead. I guess they cut some sort of deal though. If I knew Susan though, all of them would be having financial issues, at a minimum, in the future.

The only thing ever said about the deaths was that they had been killed in a gunfight with an unknown agency, but there was never any news about which agency. I pair of congressmen had raised the idea of a congressional investigation into the raid, but then suddenly resigned instead. If people had skeletons in their closets, I had little doubt Susan would find them and use them to her benefit. I really did owe her so much.

It took a little bit, and I'd had to do my breathing exercises for a bit, before I calmed down, but I got there. We'd missed the rest of the fireworks, but I knew we'd see them again. "Thank you both. I love you, and I'm glad you convinced me to make this new life with you." My voice was still unsteady, but I needed them to understand how dedicated I was to us as a family, and the new little beans in their belly.

"We make a great little family," Willow agreed.

"Speaking of which, when do you want to do the wedding? We should get you two married and then have our little ceremony too!"

"Elise and Talia got married right here on the beach, we could do that too." Lexie was bouncing on her toes in excitement, and I couldn't help but grin in response.

"I think that's a great idea. Let's do it!"

Their arms grew tighter around me, and they both peppered my face with kisses until I couldn't help but to start giggling. They were just too damned cute!

"Okay, Jesse. Now get your hot ass up," Willow commanded. "We have 4 gorgeous lesbian neighbors coming over to sit on the porch and relax with us while we hand out with an ocean view tonight."

"Right! They should be here soon now that the fireworks are over," Lexie added.

"Did I miss something about that?" I really didn't remember this plan at all!

"We might have invited them over while you were being amazing and cooking all the chicken," admitted Willow with a grin. "But we couldn't help it, they're so fun and we've never had real, adult friends!"

That was a good point. Hell, I'd never had real friends at all, and then in the span of a few months I had a bunch of amazing friends and a new family while reconnecting with my uncles. That was a huge change in my life that I was very grateful for, even if it was taking me time to get used to. But I guess that an overwhelming amount of good coming into my life was better than the bad.

"Let's get set up for them then!"

I got the little fire pit set up and lit so that we could toast some marshmallows, the hot tub was turned on in case people wanted to get in, and the girls got a few snacks and drinks out. I had no idea if anyone would be too hungry, but we wanted to be good hosts. I heard the doorbell ring while chatting with Bella, and then a lot of greeting as Lexie let all the neighbors in. It was a nice night, for maybe 5 minutes, before the past came rushing back.

It all happened so innocently too. One minute we're there all talking and having a good time while the little babies slept in their portable playpens, and the next Talia and Elise were freaking out. "They're dead!" cried out Elise, holding her phone out to Talia. Tears were streaming from both their eyes as they looked at their phone, then broke into a big hug.

Mira and Hana looked confused as well, until Talia looked over at them. "Our other parents are dead!"

I just didn't understand, because both sets of their parents, along with Mira's, had stopped by for the street party, so what was I missing?

"The Austins and Hensons?" Mira asked in a hushed tone.

I almost spit out my drink at that. Well fuck, those were names I knew. And worse, I knew how they died.